Christina the Astonishing Martin Ward Though by no means a

Though by no means a reactionary tract for the time

Ron Simpson

To mark his 80th birthday Maurice Harmon has brought together poems written in the last two years together with selections from his three collections published by Salmon: The Last Regatta

including Heaven's Gate (2001)

The Sky Road

Christina the Astonishing Martin Ward Though by no means aSaint Christina the Astonishing was born into a poor Belgian family in 1150. She died aged 22 but at her requiem she rose from her coffin and flew away like a bird, wanting to escape the smell of sinful humanity. This was the first of many mad, disobedient exploits in her long and remarkable life. Jane Draycott and Lesley Saunders retell through their own poems as well as brief extracts from medieval religious writers Christinas story as a womans